Usually there is an individual in charge of subs - at my school it's the principal's secretary. This person can easily be informed, "I couldn't find a folder with 504/health alert information in it. Can you let Mr./Mrs. X know?" If it is a teacher you sub for often you can also ask them. All of this info is necessary stuff!

I POD to bring this up with the principal - perhaps a note would be better because she/he might forget a conversation.

After teaching for 30 some years, I'm quite surprised that a sub folder is not standard everywhere. Our principal always checked ours during the annual evaluation. Mine was always stuck in my lesson plan book, on the corner of my desk.

Things like fun activities, classroom games, extra generic lesson plans should be in the folder, too, as well as emergency procedures.

Sub plans should also have specific and detailed directions about their daily routines. Sometimes the kids know and other times they are clueless or tricking you. They should also have a list of where things are (markers, glue, scissors, leveled readers, etc. How do they do bathroom times? I mean, there are so many things that should be in a permanent sub folder.

There may be a way to let the sub know of things that are included in an IEP without elaborating - example: Tiffany can have a pass to the bathroom anytime she requests one. Bobby is allowed to have a chocolate milk at 945. Michael will leave at 130 and be back in the classroom at 215.

Additionally I would say lockdown, lockout and evacuation information is critical. I've been in rooms where I didn't have a key to lock a door because the dept head would unlock for the subs in the morning. I've also been in rooms with no classroom and had to ask what to do in the event of a lockdown.

I can tell you that many times the classroom teachers aren't even sharing this info with specialty teachers/librarian. I could tell you horror stories about not knowing a student having Tourette's, the music teacher who didn't have an assignment from a student, only to find that her estranged mother had died and the girl was out of town at the funeral (the girl just cried and didn't explain).

You may be helping more than just the subs by making the request to the principal to have this basic information.

One way we "get around" the privacy law issues is our teammates are legally informed. If I'm out my team leader makes sure that my ADHD child gets his medication at lunch. She knows were I keep my "snacks" for my student who is always hungry. I know which child in her room is asthmatic and should not go out to recess because of the pollen count. So I stick my head in and tell the sub that Julie needs to go to the computer lab now.

We also have most of our IEP students in the same room - because we only have so many inclusion aides. The inclusion aides basically take over the needs for their students - they also know about any 504 or just kids with medical conditions.

Agree with mentioning it to whomever is in charge of subs. But in my district, you're not allowed to have a copy of a BIP. You would just get information like, "If Johnny climbs under his desk, let him stay there and quietly direct other students to ignore him."

IMO, this is a failure of school admin for not having such a procedure in place.

Agree with mentioning it to whomever is in charge of subs. But in my district, you're not allowed to have a copy of a BIP. You would just get information like, "If Johnny climbs under his desk, let him stay there and quietly direct other students to ignore him."

IMO, this is a failure of school admin for not having such a procedure in place.

I don't think that's unique to your district; that falls under federal law regarding special services.

Subs don't want to read a giant novel 10 minutes before class starts, do they? Many procedures are so complicated that to get them exactly right would take a very detailed explanation.

Anything life-threatening, or very pertinent to the day's activities, I would mention, but otherwise, subs can do things however they'd like in my room. In fact, it's better if they do it their own way, then they're not relying on the kids for the correct information.

And usually, the teacher next door will know anything else they need, and admin's not far away.

I think the level of detail depends on the age level/subject/activity for the day. I can see how in elementary school, subs need to know about Johnny's special snack time, kids pulled for OT, or how Sally likes to hide under the desk. Secondary is a bit different. Most of my IEP information is stuff like, "Abby needs to have all assessments read aloud," which is handled by the sped department and/or my co-teacher.

I admit I'm one of those teachers that will only take a day if I cannot physically get out of bed (happened last year with food poisoning) or if I have arranged for a sub I know and like far in advance. I have 2 subs I really, really like and trust on my list and they know how things work in my room by now.

Do subs want to read a novel? Probably not. When I subbed, I was happiest when I had a clearly defined plan to follow for each class period. But the health alerts absolutely need to be available. I have a kid this year with a super severe peanut allergy, to the point where I won't even eat peanut butter sandwiches in my room for fear of triggering an episode. He carries an epi pen. It's VITAL that any sub in my room knows this, and this is not considered confidential as far as subs are concerned (at least by my district, ymmv). It is of course possible that the teacher you are subbing for has no health alerts/IEPs, but I would be shocked if that were the case.